Thunder ´excited´ about a future they hope includes Durant

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti is “excited” about the prospect of re-signing star forward Kevin Durant.

One week after losing game seven of the Western Conference finals, the Thunder are making it clear they do not want to lose their franchise player.

Presti said he was confident he could convince Durant to remain at the NBA team.

“We have the opportunity to sit down with him and talk about what looks like an incredibly bright future together,” Presti told a news conference on Monday.

“I think you have to embrace that. You have to really lean into that in an excited way without knowing what the outcome may be.

“But I don’t see any reason to shy away from that.”

Durant will become a free agent next month, and will be the most sought-after player available around the league.

Presti realises that and is prepared for it.

“I think the way you’ve got to look at that is when we signed Kevin to his extension five years ago, we knew that he’d be a free agent at the end of that contract,” Presti said.

“And we’ve done, I think, a really good job of just focusing on the things that we can control.

“We can’t make that decision come faster or slow it down, so we may as well enjoy the season we just had and allow him to do the same.

“And then when it’s time, we’ll sit down and have that conversation with him, and at that point we’ll know where we stand.”